After the Opal Deception
by BookFreek
Summary: What happened after the Opal Deception? Holly and Artemis face another threat to Earth!
1. A Surprise Mission

This is my first piece so please I'd like as many constructive reviews as possible. I hope its ok!

CHAPTER ONE

"Artemis, its Holly."

Butler handed the fairy communicator over to Artemis. Holly had given it to him at their last meeting at the Haven, before she and Mulch and gone into the detective business and made him their honorary consultant. It had been almost a month since they had seen each other in person.

"Holly, old chum, how are you? Any crimes needing of my expertise? Famous paintings missing? I was beginning to think you had forgotten me."

"Fat chance, mudboy. After what we've gone through?"

Artemis smiled. It felt good to hear Holly's voice again.

"Artemis, don't take it personally. I haven't been keeping in touch lately. Mulch has gotten this grand idea to travel the world." She snorted. "Brilliant, right? We're solving mysteries left and right. But they're so _easy._ Some of the thieves we've caught are just stupid. Typical missions."

Artemis could practically see Holly's face wrinkling in disgust. "I see."

"The truth is, Artemis, that I'm bored."

Artemis snorted. "Holly, I can hardly imagine you being _bored. _Not with your knack for getting into trouble."

"Hey! That _trouble _you're talking about usually had to do with me saving the Haven from _your _maniacal plans!"

The boy chuckled, remembering how chaotic his life had been for the past couple years. Old memories that even Foaly had failed to brainwash away. "Yes, those were the days." Certain nostalgia lined his otherwise clear, crisp voice. Something almost dreamy. But Holly cut short his remembering.

"_Were _the days! That's just it. There's nothing to do, no butt-kicking, no saving the world for future generations! A girl like me needs some action. I'm sick of watching _I Love Centaur_ reruns with Foaly. Give me something to _do_, please. I don't even care if its another mission to fix one of your 'genius' plans gone awry."

Artemis smiled as he heard the desperation in her voice. Yes, that was Holly Short alright. Always needing to feel useful. She _was _the first female Lower Elements Police Recon (LEP Recon for short) officer, after all. And one of his most respected people in the world. If you could call her a person. He smiled again. She was right, about his plans going entirely wrong, but Artemis Fowl never _could _resist a counter attack.

"Holly, first of all, my genius plans have not gone awry. They have simple encountered very realistic problems that I did not previously account for, but through quick calculation eventually solved." He paused, allowing time for Holly to roll her eyes.

At the other end of the line, Holly rolled her eyes.

Artemis cleared his throat. "As a matter of fact, I have a little surprise for you. I guess you could call it a birthday present."

He remembered? An awestruck Holly was touched. "OK, mudboy. I give you points for remembering my birthday. But how the heck are you going to send me my present? Even a genius like you can't get past Sool's new transportation police." She heard Artemis laugh at the other end of the line.

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a mission. Something difficult enough for your standards. That is, if your up to it."

It was Holly's turn to smile. "Lay it on me, mudboy."


	2. Earth in Trouble

CHAPTER TWO

"What?" Holly was trying to fight off disbelief. She knew that Artemis was capable of trouble far beyond his fifteen years. But this? She couldn't believe it.

"Artemis, I don't understand how you managed to put the Lower Elements in danger. _Again. _I thought we'd been through this before."

"I know, and I _have _learned my lesson. This, for one, was not my fault."

"Not your fault! You contacted life outside this world! You had no idea what was out there and you still took chances! I don't believe it!"

"Holly, you must understand that—"

"No Artemis. I want _you _to understand this. _You're _mistakes spell disaster for the rest of the world. This WORLD, Artemis!"

"That's precisely why I want to fix what I started. Believe me, I only launched that satellite past our galaxy out of pure scientific curiosity. I knew there was risk involved, but any other mudman would have done so eventually. I mean, in about forty-five years NASA's technology might have been superior to mine. It was inevitable that we would encounter hostile extra-terrestrial civilizations."

"Artemis, this is way beyond hostile. You said they want to infiltrate our governments. Destroy our planet! That's psychotic."

"Holly, the Alisto people are in the middle of an inter-galactic civil war. They are looking for a safe haven to relocate their people. And Earth has now become their evacuation planet. From their message I gather that they have already sent spies. People to clear the Earth of humans and make it the perfect place for a fresh start. However, you and I can stop this. I'm confident we can solve this problem."

"So what, you want us to find Alisto spies on Earth and destroy them? Like that's going to be easy. Be realistic, Artemis. We hardly know anything about these people."

"I do. Ten years ago a certain Dr. Cornelius published a theory about other galaxies. Naturally, it was scorned by most of the scientific community. But it speculated the physical makeup of extra terrestrial beings based on formations of cells as worlds are formed. I think it could help us find our spies."

"Artemis, I don't know about—"

"Holly, it all comes down to two things. One, do you want to save the world?

"Yes."

"Two, do you trust me?" There was a short pause on the line. Holly was thinking.

"Hey Butler, you trust Fowl?"

The familiar, burly voice came on. "I do."

Holly sighed. "Well, what's good enough for Butler is good enough for me. Hey Artemis?"

"Yes, Holly?"

"Let's kick some Alisto butt."


	3. Aliens and The People

CHAPTER THREE

"Artemis, I hope you know what you're doing."

The boy ignored Butler's comment. He was furiously typing on his laptop. "This is bad. Very bad," he said, turning pale as he looked up at the giant manservant. "Using Dr. Cornelius's theories I've been able to create a fairly close estimate of Alisto anatomy. I thought it would help us locate the spies. But I'm not sure if I like what I'm seeing."

Butler frowned and ventured a look on the screen. The creature he saw looked exactly like a human. A very short human. "Everyone looks like that, Artemis. I hope you can figure out some other differences. Or this alien mission is already over."

"Ah, Butler, this is why I am the genius and you are not. Look closer."

Butler pressed the _zoom _button. "Oh my god," he breathed.

It was the ears. Petite little ears. Pointy. And oddly familiar….

"Artemis, is this possible? Aliens among the People?"

The boy looked strangely calm. "Butler, I think the People _are _the aliens. And some of them want to destroy us."


	4. Foaly's Help

Thank you so much **Brizo** for reviewing my story! I'm new to this, so any encouragement helps! Hopefully this chapter provides an explaination for the previous one...

CHAPTER FOUR

"Artemis, you've got to be kidding me. The People have been on Earth ever since the beginning of time. If we were from Alisto, we would know it."

"Holly, we humans have always speculated that life on this planet originated from another. It's quite feasible that the People are not from Earth."

"But that we're _spies_?"

"Holly, you're not listening. How many times must I explain this?"

"Oh, another one million or so should do it."

Artemis sighed. It was hard explaining things to non-geniuses, even one as bright as Holly. It took a while for them to catch up.

"I'm not saying that the entire Haven is alienated. Just some of it. It very likely that the very pixies who are governing the People right now have been contacting the Alistos for centuries, millennia even. I'm willing to bet that it's the LEP that's known the secret of your origins for these many, many years."

"Are you saying Commander Root kept secrets from _us_? Are you saying that our Julius would be secretive enough to keep information like this in? I was his Captain! He would never keep this from me!" Holly took slow, bated breaths. Remembering Julius Root was painful at best. Why was Artemis so calm about all this! Sometimes she could swear that she wanted to strangle that boy.

"Holly. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She took another deep breath. "I think all this alien-infiltration nonsense is a little bit over my head. It hits a little too close to home, if you know what I mean."

Artemis nodded.

"Why don't I give you Foaly? He'll sort this out."

Two minutes later the fairy communicator made a beeping sound.

"Artemis? Yoohooo Artemis!" The centaur was pleased to finally be given something important to do, instead of sorting out files for Sool. "Iiiiiiit's FOALY!"

"Good to see you old pal. I take it Holly's explained to you what I've discovered? The relationship between the aliens, earth's destruction, and the people? Do you realize what this means?"

Foaly pouted. "Artemis, I'm hurt. Of course I understand what this means. We're going to need to find the bad apples in the LEP and er…as you humans call it, _terminate _them."

"Precisely."

"Artemis, I'll help you in anyway I can. I'm bored out of mind here in the Haven. The least I can do is help you is to make sure your Earth stays intact. And if we hurt Sool's reputation and destroy his dignity while we're at it, then that's just a bonus."

"Good to know that, Foaly. I knew I could count on you."

The centaurs tone was smug. "I know. After all, I _am _very valuable."

Holly's voice came on. "I scheduled a shuttle to aboveground for tomorrow. I'll meet you and Butler at the Manor, so stay indoors, okay?"

"Got it, Holly."

"And Artemis?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I want you to know that I've never spied for the Alistos. If the LEP was in on it, I swear I didn't know. I won't have anything to do with hurting humans. With hurting you or Butler or Juliet."

"I never doubted you for a moment, Holly."


	5. Planning

CHAPTER FIVE

If anyone knew anything about the Alistos, or their planning attack on the humans, the Council would know. And if they knew, they would discuss it at a highly-guarded meeting along with other important People matters. _The only problem was, _thought Artemis, _when is the meeting?_

"That's easy," Holly informed him, "March 17…what you mudmen call "St. Patrick's Day. It's the day when all the pranksters and lawbreakers of the Haven try to tap into the Council's meeting, but always fail. Luckily, they've put Foaly in charge of security, but this year's downside is that the Council wants to be sure that he is only keeping lawbreakers _out_, and not trying to listen-in on the meeting himself. Paranoid freaks."

"They still don't trust Foaly, do they?"

"Nope, not even enough to keep well-trained LEP officers from pointing Neutrino 500s at Foaly…point-blank range."

Artemis smirked. "Foaly must be ecstatic for the seventeenth, I can imagine. So all we need to do is disable the guards, and Foaly can spy on the Council without any problems."

Holly immediately recognized the tone of the boy's voice, drawling and almost bored. "Don't think it's easy just yet. I've seen this years new batch of LEP officers. Sool has really kicked their training up a notch. Not to mention weapon's upgrades, you and I may just barely defeat twenty or so guards and make it out alive."

"You're forgetting Butler."

"He's not as quick as he used to be, genius, and whose fault is that? He'll be a great help, for sure, but we need to make sure we're fully armed with some hearty weaponry. Three Neutrinos against twenty isn't going to do much good, not to mention that half of them will probably be pointed at Foaly as well. I hate to say it, but we may have to resort to some sort of gas to disable the guards."

"How about laughing gas? Perfectly ethical, even to your fairy standards, and harmless. You see Holly, this _is _going to be easy. The seventeenth is this Friday, right?"

"Yes…"

"Perfect. We have three days to plan. However, for me it should take roughly five hours to come up with three high-probability-success-rate plans, and two slightly more risky back up plans…"

"Yeah, yeah whatever just get it done and tell me in the morning. _I Love Centaur _is on tonight and I'm actually kind of growing to like the show…But don't tell Foaly I said that," she added, a little too quickly.


End file.
